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A look at the lives of incarcerated juveniles

Guests

Richard Ross:Photographer, professor at University of California- Santa Barbara

Xavier McElrath-Bey: Clinical field interviewer for Health Disparities and Public Policy at Northwestern University

The photos of Richard Ross are bleak: incarcerated children in cells, behind locked doors without windows. It's a stark view inside places that many of us are unfamiliar with.

Ross spent five years visiting more than 200 juvenile detention centers taking photos and learning about the kids behind bars. There are currently 60,000 young behind in the corrections system. The photos are part of his latest book, "Juvenile-In-Justice."

Ross joined The Daily Circuit Thursday, Dec. 6 to talk about his experiences working on the book.

Xavier McElrath-Bey also joined the discussion. He was locked up in a Chicago jail when he was 13 and tried for murder as an adult. He served 13 years and came out rehabilitated. He now works to help keep track of other kids who have been locked up in Chicago as part of one of the largest studies of incarcerated youth in the country.

Up for discussion: Is this the best way to address juvenile offenses? Is it the best way to persuade kids not to re-offend and to get their lives on track?

Orleans Parish Prison (O.P.P), New Orleans, La. Currently houses about 23 juvenile boys, two per cell. The cell at its narrowest portion measures about 6 feet wide.Courtesy of Richard RossView full galleryR, age 10, a 5th grader, brought in to the Washoe County Detention Facility in Reno, Nevada from school by a policeman. He was waiting to be picked up by his mom, who couldn't come get him until she got off work, for fear of losing her job. He is checked on every five minutes. He stabbed a schoolmate- but it is unclear what the tool was. The facility was built in 2004 for a capacity of 108, all are pre-adjudicated. The facility holds youth for up to 30 days before transferring them to commitment.Courtesy of Richard RossN.R., age 12, at Douglas County Juvenile Detention in Lawrence, Kansas. "I went to day school next door to this place for eight months. When I went back to regular school I got in a fight in three days. A kid was calling my mom bad names. I punched him and left school and started beating up a car. Cops came for me and I wouldn't put on my seat belt when they put me in their car."Courtesy of Richard RossA 12-year-old juvenile in his windowless cell at Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi, operated by Mississippi Security Services, a private company.Courtesy of Richard Ross